Obama weighs in on aliens: ‘They’re real, but not at Area 51'

Former US President Barack Obama has said that extra-terrestrial life is out there in the universe and is “real”, but he has not seen it. However, he denied the often-debated claim that alien technology or bodies are kept hidden by the US government in secret facilities like Area 51, a highly classified US Air Force facility in Nevada, which is totally off limits for the public and often associated with UFO conspiracy theories.

"They’re real, but I haven’t seen them," said Obama during a free-flowing conversation with YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen when he was asked whether aliens exist.

‘No such underground facility’

The former US President denied that alien spacecraft and bodies are kept hidden in Area 51, adding that there is no such underground facility at the air base.

"They’re not being kept in Area 51, there’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the President of the United States," said Obama as quoted by India Today.

‘Chances of aliens’ existence high, but…’

Elaborating further, he said that considering the vast expanse of the universe, the chances of humans not being alone are high, as he clarified that during his presidency, he never saw any evidence of aliens seeking to establish contact with humans.

Obama said that the vast distance between star systems makes the possibility of Earth being visited by aliens very low.

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"I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention, let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens are low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extra-terrestrials have made contact with us," he stated in a post on Instagram.

‘US officials have videos of unexplained aerial objects’

In a television interview in 2021, he acknowledged that US officials were in possession of genuine video showing aerial objects that could not be readily explained.

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"But what is true, and I’m actually being serious here, is that there’s footage and records of objects in the skies that we don’t know exactly what they are," he said at the time.

The backdrop

Interest in extraterrestrial life and unidentified flying objects has grown in recent years, particularly after the declassification and publication of military recordings capturing unusual aerial phenomena tracked by US forces.

That same year, the Pentagon made public three cockpit videos recorded by Navy pilots, showing unidentified objects travelling at considerable speed and, in one instance, appearing to rotate into the wind. The events were formally labelled UAPs, the term used by US defence agencies for aerial phenomena whose source and capabilities have not been determined.